Today there are many ways to connect with others that have the same beliefs, goals and desires as you. With Sabbath school its no different there are many websites, forums, blogs and other tools available to help enhance your understanding of the lesson and allows you to dialogue with others.
One of the ways you can connect with those seeking a deeper understanding and dialogue about the lesson is through facebook. One of the active groups on facebook is the SDA Sabbath School Lesson Forum. Their are currently over 3,300 members in this group that have a desire to share the insight’s they’ve discovered and have an open dialogue discussion about the Sabbath School lesson.
As a member of this group I receive approximately two to three messages each week discussing the lesson for the day, a recap of the week, or an invite to a discussion in the forum.
If you are currently seeking another opportunity or looking for a way to connect with others and discuss the Sabbath School lesson, don’t forget to check out facebook’s SDA Sabbath School Lesson Forum.
The July 2 lesson deals with connecting with people within and out of the church to make it better. The lesson also spoke about how our good intentions can sometimes ruin true fellowship. So one of the ways to connect with people on a genuine level is to relate things to them in our present age. The principles learned from stories like Noah (faith and standing up for what is right); Moses (trusting God to do great things through you); and David (faith and defending God) helps the unchurched by putting the principles within a present situation with which they are familiar.
I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all heard most of the Old Testament Bible stories by now—at least from a primary Sabbath School level. Your Noah and the Ark, Moses and the Ten Commandments, David and Goliath, etc. But what about our non-Adventist friends who may not know these stories so well? How can we present these stories to them in a modern setting? Also, how can we present the stories in settings for our twenty-first century adults within the church who have never confronted the issues these stories address for adults?
Examples:
• Connect the account of David and Goliath to a small corporation trying to take down the giant.
• We’ve seen the tobacco industry’s creative commercials. What examples can you come up with?
Actress/singer/songwriter Beyonce Knowles recently released her third studio album entitled I Am. . . Sasha Fierce. The reason for the title? Beyonce split herself into two sides. She explains that there’s Beyonce who is calm, reserved, and laid-back. But Sasha Fierce is her alter-ego who is more aggressive, provocative, and explicit. Beyonce is not the first music artist to seemingly split themselves up. Fellow artists such as Ciara, who’s alter-ego is “Super C”, Eminem (Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers), and T.I. (T.I.P) claim their alter-egos as well.
We tend to be like these artists sometimes. Wanting to split our lives up into the bad side and the good side. But this is exactly what John was talking about in 1 John 1:6. He warns the new believers not to succumb to the beliefs of Gnosticism. John presents Jesus to new believers as one human being; not a divine body and a human body but meshed together. He showed them that if Jesus could conquer the sins that everyone faces, then so can we.
This year, 2009, is the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species published November 25, 1859. A recent poll showed that 52 percent of American’s agreed that “the development of life was guided by intelligent design” as opposed to believing Darwin’s theory that life developed “through an unguided process of random mutations and natural selection.” Many entities worldwide are hailing this line of thinking as the collapse of Darwinism with various festivities. What is your Sabbath School doing to shed light on credible design to counteract this teaching still being given to school children? Facts worth knowing and sharing, even by our children can be found in resources like this one:
If you have other resources to help Sabbath Schools share intelligent design during this anniversary year of Darwinism, leave a comment below.
Community outreach is an important goal of the Sabbath School ministry supported by LEADmagazine. See how Matthew Gamble is spreading the gospel of Steps to Christ. We’re eager to learn your comments about his ministry. We’re eager to learn about what you’re doing. Your comments are important.
Join Matthew Gamble as he takes us on a journey through Steps to Christ and reminds us of how God reveals His love for us. Steps to Christ is a life changing book that helps readers better under stand the love and grace that God has for humanity, its also a great tool to share with others that are searching for God.
